A Bit of the Bubbly

Congressman Wilbur Mills had said that he was too busy with the public's business in Washington to campaign for re-election back in Arkansas. But that was before his recent misadventure. Last week Mills emerged from nine days of nursing his abrased dignity and flew home. On the plane, a CBS reporter questioned Mills about his Argentine-born friend Annabella Battistella, 38, the onetime stripper who wound up in Washington's Tidal Basin after dashing from Mills' car. "Was there anything between you and the young lady?" asked the reporter. "No," replied the Congressman, "I ought to be flattered at my age of 65 for anybody to ask me such a question."

Firm Tug. Limping because of her broken foot, Polly Mills grabbed her husband's hand and firmly tugged him through the mob of newsmen at the Little Rock airport. One man held up a sign that read SUPPORT THE KENNEDY-MILLS WATER SAFETY BILL, but that gibe did not appear to reflect the majority opinion on Mills' escapade. The next evening an enthusiastic gathering of Jaycees laughed and shouted "Good for you, Wilbur" as Mills attempted to explain what had happened. "I was one of those who went out one night and did something I shouldn't have done," he said. His mistake was having a bit of champagne. "I learned long ago that It goes to my head. I apologize to you, my friends, for any embarrassment I have caused. Don't go out with foreigners who drink champagne." Arkansans familiar with the district predict that Wilbur will still defeat his Republican opponent, Judy Petty, in November.

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